Steve Knight Plane

[Philly]

Hi All,
Well a little package was waiting for me yesterday.....

Forgot I had ordered this. Its a Purpleheart/Maple smoothing plane, blade bedded at 55 degrees. It comes with some test shavings still in the mouth of the plane.

As you can see it worked great straight out of the box.

The iron is really thick-6.5mm! The back was flattened and polished out near the cutting edge-very nice and saved me a lot of time! :shock: The plane has some clever little features. There is a throat insert out of Ipe which can be moved down and leveled to make sure the mouth is always tight. There are two grub screws either side of the mouth to centralise the blade. And a hardened insert on the back of the plane to save damaging the body when adjusting the blade.

After giving the blade a hone the plane really sang, cutting lovely shavings from this tricky mahogany. The higher blade angle deals with tricky grain no problem. The plane is quite hefty, and as I use a small Gordon smoother a lot, I found it a bit tiring to use for a long period. Guess I'll get used to that with a bit of practise though.
So do I recommend it? It surely is pretty with it's contrasting Purpleheart and curly Maple body. There are some clever features which show that a lot of thought has gone into the design. And it works really well straight out of the box-a rarity today!
Check out the web-site for more details (he will build one for you with whatever specs you desire!) http://www.knight-toolworks.com/

Oh and the cost-mine was $142 including postage from the States. Not bad really.....
Good thing I didn't win the Box competition-any more planes turning up on my door will probably cause the Missus to explode! :twisted:
regards
Philly

 

[Alf]

Forgot I had ordered this.

Well at least I've never reached that stage... :roll:

Very purty plane, Philly. I'm as jealous as ****, which is what you wanted to hear I'm sure! :mrgreen: So how many planes have you got now...? :|

Cheers, Alf

 

[Philly]

Hi Alf,
You jealous? Surely not...
About 20.....
Philly

 

[Alf]

About 20.....

About? About?! Oh dear. A sure sign that; when you can't say exactly how many you have... And yeah, I should know

Cheers, Alf

 

[Philly]

:roll:
Philly

 

[Bean]

Philly not only does it look good it looks like it performs well, those shavings are wonderful.
Just where do you find these planes ??



Bean

 

[Philly]

Bean,
He makes them to order-unfortunately there are no suppliers in this country.
It works a treat though, so go for it if feel the need!
regards
Philly

 

[Anonymous]

Very nice, Philly! I have a coffin smoother as well. Mine is in Padauk with small ebony stripes and bedded at 45º. I have been thinking of adding one in a higher angle for tricky grains.
For those who don't know Steve, he is a one man shop and has produced about 2,500 planes! He will custom make a plane in any wood and any bedding angle the customer desires. He does several varieties of planes including a dovetail plane.

 

[Philly]

Roger,
I'd go for 60 degree if you get another one-it's the only way (other than scraping or sanding ) to plane the gnarly grained stuff (i.e. the PRETTY stuff :roll: ) without tear-out. My HNT Gordon smoother is at 60 degrees and it will handle just about anything-and what it can't handle you can reversethe blade and use it as a scraper plane. Yes, it really does work! I was planing a particular nasty piece of purpleheart the other day and the only way to get the whole thing spot on was to use it in scraper mode.
So, I know you don't need goading into plane purchases but there's my opinion-go on, make your day!
best regards
Philly

 

[AndyBoyd]

Forgotten he'd ordered it!

What's he like?

Just jealous of course

 

[Anonymous]

FWIW, Steve Knight can often be found on the wreck. If Steve's in financial difficulties (which occasionally he is), he posts special offers on the wreck - worth looking out for.

(that's the woodworking newsgroup, by the way... rec.woodworking - a useful place to visit, occasionally frequented by Jeff Gorman, and I've even seen postings from DC and Karl Holtey (albeit a long time ago!))

Also worth talking to is spokeshave, who makes custom.....spokeshaves (surprise surprise), using Ron Hock's spokeshave iron kit.

 

[Anonymous]

Philly

I'm no great fan of wooden planes after trying a couple and not really seeing eye-to-eye with 'em, but that is gorgeous!!!!!

 

[Philly]

Cheers Tony! Always been a sucker for a pretty face, etc.......
As to forgeting I ordered it....
I bought mine off Ebay direct from Steve. Bought it on August the 3rd. Now to be fair, I was expecting it a week later. 6 weeks is taking the p*** a bit, even after a few emails. He didn't make it clear that he was building especially for me, I assumed he was selling off stock. Can't really moan as the plane is great and just what I ordered. Wish he had been a bit clearer thats all.
Not like I haven't got the odd plane hanging around to use in the meantime, is it? :roll:
regards
Plane Old Philly

 

[Noel]

In addition to Steve's website he also retails off Amazon.com.

Noel